Who am I?

Who am I?

I am a Reader in the Department of English at Manchester Metropolitan University. My research interests include games (analogue and digital), narrative theory, and historiography. I am a general editor, with Andrew Biswell, of The Irwell Edition of the Works of Anthony Burgess (Manchester University Press), and a co-director, with Sam Illingworth, of the Games Research Network at Manchester Met. I write a monthly column in Tabletop Gaming magazine.

Academic Biography

Academic and professional qualifications

Paul Wake completed his doctorate at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2004. He is a Fellow in Academic Practice.

Previous employment

Paul Wake joined the department as a full-time member of staff in 2005, following a year-long post as a Research Assistant.

Other academic service (administration and management)

Since joining Manchester Metropolitan University I have undertaken a number of roles including: Year One Stage Tutor; Undergraduate Admissions Tutor; Research Degrees Co-ordinator (English); Co-Director of the Humanities Research Centre; and Chair of the University Research Degrees Committee. I am currently the English Pathway Lead for the AHRC's North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, Co-Director of the Games Research Network, and an External examiner for the School of Cultures, Languages & Area Studies at Nottingham University.

Teaching & Research Supervision

Why study ?

Undergraduate courses

I currently teach Approaches to Narrative (L4), Nineteenth-century Literature to Modernism (L5) and Reading and Writing Games (L6).

Postgraduate teaching

I am interested in supervising work on games and gaming, narrative theory, and the twentieth-century novel.

Postgraduate supervision (completed/in progress)

I am currently supervising the following PhDs:

The Mechanics of Decay: Exploring the Ludology of the Gothic.

Literary Representations of the Tudors, the Neoliberal Imagination and English National Identity.

Schizo-Narratives: In-between Experimental American Literature and the French Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze.

Narrative Structure in Crime Cinema.

Anthony Burgess and America.

Corrective Lenses: Reading the Neuro-Turn.

I have been on the supervisory teams of the following completed PhDs:

Creative Writing on Place and Nature, conferred 2016.

The Construction and (Re)negotiation of End-of-Empire National Identity in JRR Tolkien, conferred 2015.

Intertextual Poetics: Modernism and the Poet-Figure in the Work of Anthony Burgess, conferred 2013.

Absolute Risk and the Challenge of Responsibility, conferred 2013.

Research Expertise, Publications & Grants

Research expertise

Narrative and literary theory; Interactive Fiction; Game Studies; Children’s literature; Late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century fiction, especially the works of Joseph Conrad.